Karl ernst von baer biography
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Karl Ernst Von Baer
Abstract
SCIENCE has sustained a great loss by the death of Dr. Karl Ernst von Baer, the eminent biologist; he died at Dorpat on November 29, in his eighty-fifth year. Von Baer was born in Esthonia on February 29, , and while yet at the gymnasium became an earnest student of botany. He studied medicine at Dorpat in –14, whence he proceeded to Vienna for the study of clinical medicine, to Würzburg, where he gave special attention to comparative anatomy, and to Berlin, where he studied magnetism, electricity, crystallography, and geology. In he went to Konigsberg as prosector to Prof. Burdach, and two years later he became professor of zoology at the same university. In he succeeded Burdach in the chair of anatomy, accepted an invitation in from the St. Petersburg Academy, but returned to Konigsberg the following year. A few years later, in he was igen invited to St. Petersburg, where he became one of the most active members not only of the Academy, but al
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Karl Ernst von Baer
His full name is:
Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer, Edler von Huthorn.
Karl Ernst von Baer discovered the mammalian ovum and the notochord and established the new science of comparative embryology alongside comparative anatomy. His most important work is his treatise Ueber die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Thiere, Beobachtung und Reflexion (, ) the publication of which provided a basis for the systematic study of animal development. He was also a pionjär in geography, ethnology, and physical anthropology.
Early life
Baer descended from an originally Prussian family. One of his ancestors, Andreas Baer, emigrated from Westphalia to Reval, Livonia, in the mid-sixteenth century. A collateral descendant of Andreas bought an estate in Estonia during the mid-seventeenth century, and was made a member of the nobility. Karl's father, Magnus Johann von Baer, was an Estonian landholder whose estate, Piep (Piibe), Jerwen County (Järvamaa) in the Russian Baltic province, wa
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Best known for his contributions to the field of embryology, Karl Ernst von Baer also pursued a variety of other areas of study including medicine, botany, zoology, and anthropology. Committing his life to scientific research, von Baer&#;s work led to the advancement of the understanding of mammalian reproduction, development, and organ functioning. His embryological discoveries ultimately led him to a view of development that supported epigenesis and refuted long-held thinking about preformation. Karl Ernst von Baer was born on 28 February in Piep, Estonia, to first cousins Juliane Louise von Baer and Magnus Johann von Baer. As one of ten children, von Baer spent his childhood in Coburg with his father&#;s brother Karl and his wife, Baroness Ernestine von Canne.
Although his uncle and father encouraged military life, von Baer chose to attend the University of Dorpat, where he began medical studies in August At Dorpat, von Baer studied botany, physics, and physiology, and w